Sigmund Freud and Psychoanalysis

Sigmund Freud was an Austrian neurologist who founded psychoanalysis, creating a revolutionary framework for understanding human psychology. He proposed that human behavior is deeply influenced by unconscious desires, repressed memories, and early childhood experiences. Freud introduced structural models of the mind—comprising the id, ego, and superego—and conceptualized defense mechanisms alongside the Oedipus complex. Major works such as "The Interpretation of Dreams" popularized dream analysis as a tool for exploring the psyche. Freud's clinical insights during and after World War I also influenced early studies on war neurosis. His theories profoundly reshaped psychiatry, clinical psychology, Western literature, art, and modern cultural thought.

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